Sunday, 30 October 2011

It's the season for ghosts! And we've got a bumper sized classic story this week with art by Steve (Spider Man) Ditko.

This week's Sunday comic is drawn by classic Spider Man artist Steve
Ditko. As well as working for the giant New York City firms, like
Marvel, Ditko contributed prolifically to the Connecticut minnow,
Charlton. Dead Fire appeared in Scary Tales for July 1978.

Charlton's horror titles, euphemistically called "ghost" comics, had
by the mid 1970s fallen on harder times. The company had abandoned
its "All New" policy, and was reprinting old material alongside the
new, probably to help the purchasing budget go further.

Scriptwriter Keith Chapman tells us, "Charlton had bought the script
for this one two years before publication, but they took their time
commissioning the art. I had only the vaguest idea of what was
happening on the business side. The closest I came to the Charlton
building was the logo that appeared on the envelopes in which they
always promptly sent the cheques once a script was taken. (Maybe
spell that c-h-e-c-k-s!) In the logo, the Santangelo family's US
headquarters looked very clean of line, the setting kind of sylvan.
Others have recorded that the reality was a little different – more
forbidding, maybe even a little sinister. But too late to go see
now. I'm told it was torn down years ago and replaced with a
suburban strip mall."

The story of Dead Fire draws on Norse legends. Myth was a
great source for stories about vengeful gods and the like, both in
the pulp-magazine and later eras. Some writers, like H. P.
Lovecraft, created entire mythologies of their own which other
writers then adopted. Keith says, "Writer Edmond Hamilton, who also
wrote comic-book scripts, used myth liberally – for example, in The
Valley of the Gods (Weird Tales, May 1946) it's Mayan legend;
in Twilight of the Gods (Weird Tales, July 1948) it's the
great Norse myths. So for Dead Fire I was merely following a
long established tradition for a story of my own, and had a lot of
fun doing it."

The entire 9 page strip is embedded below - remember click on image for a larger version and find more Horror related Archive Sunday Comics by clicking this link HERE

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Take last week’s cliffhanger and run with it, leaving us with an even
bigger cliffhanger and that’s what this second episode does.

There’s an odd moment in this episode that worries me – it’ s as if
the writers have lost track of Rick’s character and there is an entire
subplot involving Rick that makes no sense. Rick’s son is lying shot in
bed at a secluded farmhouse – he is being treated by a vet (well as Rick
points out we can’t shop around for a surgeon) and Rick has to be on
hand to provide regular blood transfusions if the boy if to live. What
does Rick do? Well he wants to leave the boy and go off in search of his
wife, knowing that the boy could die at any moment. Rick has to be
talked out of leaving several times and at one point even restrained by
Shane. Why such a pragmatic man doesn’t send Shane or his newfound
friends off to find his wife and the other survivors while he remains
with his son, seems odd.

This
episode is light on the walkers, at least until the excellent climax,
and concentrates on character moments. Andrew Lincoln is excellent
again, as are the rest of the superb cast. The writers seem to be using Daryl’s
character for comic relief in this episode and whilst it works well
here, one gets the feeling that too much of this could detract from the
excellent character development we’ve seen thus far.

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

Low-budget auteur Ed Wood is best known for his work on such films as Plan 9 from Outer Space, Bride of the Monster, and Glen Or Glenda,
but the director also spent a good portion of his career penning porno
novels for seedy publishers. And next week, a collection of Wood's rare
X-rated fiction will be on display in New York.

The info below comes from The Gallery Show

"The antiquarian mystique surrounding Edward Davis Wood Jr.'s career
as an author of pornographic pulp fiction is legend. He wrote under a
variety of pseudonyms, books were published and re-published under
different titles, and occasionally under different author names.
Multiple authors would share the same pseudonym, and the companies that
published the titles weren't the kind of operations that kept any kind
of records, nor paid royalties, nor really existed in the manner that
most are to expect of book publishers.

The paperbacks are truly rare, even in an age of mass-searchable used
book engines, and google ferocity. Ed Wood's sleaze fiction is also as
strange, idiosyncratic and out of step with his times and mores as his
infamous movies"

Wood would write porn inter-spliced with lengthy philosophical,
sociological and psychological discourse, he'd write first person
narratives of life as a transvestite in the buttoned up America of the
1950's. He'd riff on psychosexual themes, and unleash his id, his ego
and his superego in turn, sometimes in the same chapter. He'd write
about sex and the human condition without veneer or filters, offering up
the damaged and anguished voice of a desperately soul-searching drunk
with a sense of self-worth that would stand in dichotomy to his
self-pity.

The second Guy Ritchie directed Sherlock Holmes movie doesn't hit cinema screens until December, but Warner Brothers have already confirmed that there will be a third movie from the same team. Warner Bros has set Drew Pearce to write Sherlock Holmes 3,
continuing the Guy Ritchie-directed series that stars Robert Downey Jr.
and Jude Law.

The first in the Guy Ritchie Holmes series was a huge success and seemed to please most film fans, but it received mixed reactions from traditionalist Holmes fans who see this new Holmes as too far from Doyle's original character. I enjoyed the movie myself, but I did feel that it more resembled a steam punk influenced Victorian action movie than a Holmes adventure. However the studio, at least, didn't bow down to political correctness and it was refreshing to see Holmes with his trademark pipe, unlike the BBC series, Sherlock which has the detective on nicotine patches. I applaud the makers of the movie in keeping the pipe, especially in these days of tobacco hysteria. At least they didn't make the mistake of the current producers of the James Bond movies. They've taken away Bond's dick and look what's happened to the world's favourite spy! James Bland, anyone! The current screen Bond is indistinguishable from any other screen hero, but at least Holmes in all his incarnations has managed to retain something of the unique character which made him such a success in the first place.

Because the BBC series is superbly entertaining and the pairing of Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Watson, works well, that the series is set in contemporary times doesn't really matter - after all several of the Basil Rathbone Holmes movies were contemporary. But at the end of the day the series isn't really Sherlock Holmes, just as Guy Ritchie's movies, entertaining in themselves, are not really Sherlock Holmes.

Holmes though continues to go on and on and as well as the new movie this December and a second series of Sherlock early next year, the great detective is kept alive in print by new authors taking up the pen left by Doyle and continuing to add to the remarkable evergreen character. Holmes has been presented at one time or another as a boy, a woman and even a dog, fox and mouse. As well as everything else between - I once read a short story in which Sherlock Holmes was a motor car and his assistant was the loyal, Datsun.

So does it really matter how characters like Sherlock Holmes are presented? The variations on the characters and themes may not please the purists, but they might just encourage new readers to try the original canon - and that can only be a good thing.

"There is still more excitement and invention in the original tales than a thousand screen incarnations."

No matter how many actors, how many writers tamper with the creation, Holmes will never die and will always be out there, wearing that deerstalker and puffing on the pipe. The detective is a hard man to kill as even original creator, Conan Doyle discovered when he tried to hurl the detective over those waterfalls that I can't be bothered to Google the correct spelling of.

Rumours surrounding the new James Bland movie are that Daniel Craig will wear a beard for most of the movie, taking the actor even further away from the true look of James Bond and that the budget has been scaled back considerably. The Sun newspaper recently reported that - "There's not so much flash hand-to-hand fighting, it's gone back to blowing stuff up – including London's Vauxhall Bridge."

Fleming described Bond as having a clean cut, classical looking face with a thick mop of dark hair, but the makers of the current Bond series don't really seem concerned with Fleming at all and the previous two James Bland movies Casino Royale and Quantum of Shit owe nothing to the original novels other than the name James Bond.

Director Sam Mendes claimed in a recent interview that he is scaling down the action scenes to include more dramatic scenes and make the new Bond movie more Oscar friendly.This could be a disaster in terms of sales
at the box office. Given that James Bland needs to
make at last £300 million to break even.

Still who cares? The James Bond movie franchise is down the toilet and maybe it is time to call it a day - and that's the opinion of a lifelong fan of the Bond movies. But it comes to something when movies like Johnny English are more Bond than Bond himself.

Monday, 24 October 2011

Yesterday I spent an enjoyable afternoon at the Black Hills home of
legendary horror author, Guy N. Smith – I was interviewing Guy for the
first episode of Scary Motherfucker Radio which will go live this
Halloween. It was a great thrill meeting Guy because I’d spent a great
deal of my teenage years reading his novels – I mean what
self-respecting teenager could resist a novel about giant killer crabs?

We covered a lot of ground in the interview – the paperback years,
NEL Publishers, the rise and fall and rise of the horror genre and
pretty much everything and the kitchen sink. I’m pleased with the way
the interview sounds (I’ve just spent several hours editing it for
consumption) and know it’ll make a great main feature for episode one of
Scary Motherfucker radio.

So be here or be square and prepare for Scary Motherfucker Radio – available here and at iTunes.

I've not been this excited by a sale in some time - I had an email this afternoon from Marvin Kaye, editor of iconic magazine, Weird Tales and he's bought a short story of mine, Back then our monsters were real, which I've written under my Vincent Stark byline.

How cool is that!

Weird Tales is an iconic magazine which has published everyone from H P Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard to Robert Bloch. Even Tennessee Williams made his first sale to the magazine.
Later this year I launch my Vincent Stark name with the first in a horror trilogy, The Dead Walked and what better AD for the new guy than - VINCENT STARK AS PUBLISHED IN WEIRD TALES???

I'm not sure when my story will appear but the editor has given me permission to announce the sale prior to singing the contract. I've literally been jumping up and down since hearing that the story has been accepted.

COMING SOON FROM VINCENT (WEIRD TALES) STARK

The WIKI tells us - Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine
first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September
1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set
up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre. Edwin Baird was the first editor of the monthly, assisted by Farnsworth Wright The "sub-genre" pioneered by Weird Tales writers has come to be called weird fiction.

Keep reading for news of both my Weird Tales debut and the first in The Dead Walked trilogy.

You can't keep a good hero down and bouncing back for his second Archive appearance is Rubberman - written by Archive friend and popular western writer Keith Chapman AKA Chap O'Keefe.

Comes the time when every crime-series hero finds himself arrested
by the flatfoots! You know he'll break free, rout the real baddies,
prove his innocence, and win back his friends among the boys in
blue. But you read it all the same.

Jim Hollis, aka Rubberman (actually just one of the rubber men in
Comic-dom), was a star of serial stories run in weekly instalments
in Smash!, a groundbreaking UK comic of the late 1960s. He was
created for Odhams Press by writer Ken Mennell and (according to
British sources) artist Alfredo Marculeta.

Mennell was a former Fleetway House script editor. Marculeta was a
Spanish artist. Keith Chapman (aka Chap O'Keefe), who wrote the
script for the story here, believes Marculeta lived in France and
suspects he's the artist named elsewhere as Edmundo Marculeta
(1923-1989). His signature is at the foot of the first page of
today's complete, four-page comic adventure which was published in
Smash! Annual 1968.

At the "Now Read This" website, Win Wiacek, reviewing the 1969
edition of the Smash! annual, says: "Christmas simply wasn’t right
without a heaping helping of these
garish, wonder-stuffed compendiums that offered a huge variety of
stories and scenarios. Today’s celebrity, TV and media tie-in
packages
simply can’t compete...."

For another complete Rubberman story from Smash! annual, click HEREYou will find the strip below - remember click on images to open a larger version in your browser

Saturday, 22 October 2011

Episode 1 will include an interview with horror author, Guy N. Smith,
news on the zombie event of the year Vincent’s Stark’s The Dead Walked,
some classic old time radio horror and enough chills and thrills to
freeze the blood.

There are two kinds of movies based on the works of the great Stephen
King. There are those that simply suck and then there are those that
are brilliant and do full justice to the author’s words – The Mist is
one such excellent King movie. The movie of course was directed by Frank
Darabont and it’s clear to see that he is a director who likes his
actors – several of the actors appearing in this movie would go onto
play main roles in the TV series, The Walking Dead.

This
Mist at it’s most basic is a homage to all those 1950′s/60′s sci-fi
movies but filtered through Stephen King’s fertile imagination.

What King did with his original story was to re-imagine those monster
on the loose stories and give them a modern twist. What Frank Darabont
has done with King’s story is film it with intelligence and a great
sense of suspense, resulting in a fine horror movie. The director spends
more time on creating believable characters than showing the monsters
which only adds effect when the beasties are on screen, and there are
such a lot of creepy-crawlie beasties on offer here. The ending, far
bleaker than King’s original, is truly shocking. The first time you see
this ending it leaves you stunned, which is not something you can’t
honestly say about a lot of movies.
This is what horror movies should be like, and for genre that
currently seems obsessed with torture porn, a movie like this is all the
more refreshing. Anyone can hack off a leg or tear open a stomach, but
only the best can bring truly imaginative works such as this to the page
or screen.

Friday, 21 October 2011

The three men had come together to discuss the possibility of making a
movie version of The Stand. Stephen King, George Romero and producer
Rik Rubinstein spent several weeks during the summer of 1981 talking
about the pros and cons of adapting what was, up until that time, King’s
most ambitious novel. George Romero had long been eager to work with
King and had narrowly missed out on directing Salem’s Lot before the
studio decided to pull the plug on plans for a big screen movie and go
with a television mini series instead.
The three men realised that making a movie of The Stand would prove
far too expensive and after looking at several other projects, it was
decided to make an all original horror story based on the comic books
that had influenced the young Stephen King – the project would end up
being called Creepshow.

‘King
was like a big kid,’ Rik Rubinstein commented during a documentary shot
to accompany the special edition DVD of the movie. The author threw
himself into the production and not only starred in one of the segments,
as the moronic Jordy Verrill but also roped in his son Joe King (these
days known as writer, Joe Hill) to play the young boy reading the
Creepshow comic in the movie’s prologue.

The movie was made up of five stories plus the prologue and epilogue –
two of the stories, The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill and The Crate
were based on King stories, while the remaining three stories were
written for the movie. All of the tales had something of the flavor of
the old horror comics about them which was intentional although some
critics seemed to misunderstand this point and found
many of the performances over the top. King’s performance ( mouth agape
and bulging eyes) in the Jordy Verrill story is perfect, even if the
author does these days seem embarrassed by his acting. Sure it’s comic
book and OTT but then the film’s meant to be that way – a celluloid
version of a comic book and on that level it succeeds fully.

Creepshow is both a horror movie and an affectionate almost loving
tribute to the tacky horror comics of the 50′s and 60′s. It’s not meant
to be taken seriously but to be fun and it sure enough is.
The currently available two disc special edition DVD is superb. A
rich clean transfer backed up by a wealth of special features, including
a fascinating making of documentary as well as a commentary by George
Romero himself.

Thursday, 20 October 2011

Amazon have in recent months taken some criticism over the low quality of many of the titles published under its Kindle Direct Publishing platform - Online ebook behemoth Amazon has been fraught the last three months with a surge in book spam and eBook piracy.
Many people are buying spam toolkits such as Autopilot Kindle Cash
which can write and submit books at the click of a few buttons.

This issue was brought to my attention my Archive friend and editor of Black Horse Extra, Keith Chapman who received an article intended for The Black Horse Extra from fellow western writer, Greg Mitchell who tells of his own experience with eBooks. It was decided to run this piece here to highlight the problem Amazon are facing and need to address before they alienate customers.

And so over to Greg (article in italics followed by comment from the Archive.)

Recently I was given a Kindle and found the ebook a very
convenient way to acquire a wide selection of books without
leaving home. But lately I have twice fallen into traps by being a
bit too trusting. The comments voiced in the September-November
Black Horse Extra, "The Rights and Wrongs of Ebooks" were right on
the mark when discussing quality and the lack of control.

I bought two ebooks recently. One covered the subject matter for
about twenty pages and then went into a totally unrelated subject
that comprised roughly 90% of the book. The book was in total
less than 15 minutes' reading time and only about 10% dealt with
the subject in which I was interested. I could have learned more
with a quick read of Wikipedia. As the book was not expensive, I
shrugged the matter off as the work of a self-indulgent nutter.

A couple of days ago I bought another book and was caught again.
The authors were different, and so was the subject matter, but the
presentation was the same. There were a few modern pages on the
subject, which was the thoroughbred horse, but the bulk of the
book was a 19th century book on general horse care that was
outdated and irrelevant. The name of the author was not listed.

No doubt the copyright on the real book had long expired and the
authors used it to pad out their ebook. In what appears to be a
cynical effort to make money quickly, the same people have brought
out similar books on various breeds of horses. If their
information is so limited on what is probably the best-known breed
of horse, the other books are not going to tell us much about some
of the more obscure breeds. They are going to be as superficial
and padded out as in the one I bought.

To return to the first book: my first thought was that some
untalented amateur was trying their hand at writing. But when
digging deeper I found that the author literally had dozens of
books on Kindle. I have not read any more books by that person but
the sheer number of them suggests the writer is churning out the
maximum number of books with minimal effort.

So we have a pattern emerging, different subjects and different
authors using what seems to be the same trick. And these ebooks
are being churned out in series.
In both cases, the writers appear to be working to some sort of
formula at a great rate on material that would disappoint many
purchasers. Quantity seems to be the name of the game. Forget
quality.

If a synopsis was obligatory, readers might have some idea of what
they are buying, but under the current system you take pot-luck.

I came away with the distinct feeling that I had been ripped off,
because although the books touched lightly on the subject
advertised, they promptly strayed elsewhere. I have refrained from
naming authors, for fear of lawsuits. These writers are staying
within the letter of the law, even if they allow intending
purchasers to draw the wrong conclusions about the contents of
their ebooks.

It is said that we have to be pretty dumb to be caught twice by
the same trick so I cannot be too proud of my gullibility, but I
hit back the only way that I could. To their credit, Amazon will
publish unfavourable reviews, so I wrote a couple of very nasty
reviews which Amazon printed. I would urge others who have been
disappointed by such books to write reviews that will cause future
buyers to stop and think.

Greg, gentleman that he is, refused to name the eBooks in question but a little Amazon search of our own yielded fruit and we have pictured one of the offending titles above. Of course it would speak volumes if author, James Sinclair could comment to defend his title or even take part in an Archive interview. It is of paramount importance that Amazon start a system of quality control regarding their Kindle Publishing Scheme - after all respectable authors will, through no fault of their own, find themselves tarnished with the same brush as the charlatans.

The Archive is fully behind Greg's idea and urges readers to leave bad reviews on Amazon if they feel they have been ripped off or sold a substandard product through the Kindle store.

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Amazon have signed a deal with D C Comics - Amazon now hold the exclusive digital rights to a hundred popular graphic novels,
including Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, the Sandman, and Watchmen.

That arrangement apparently did not sit too well with rival bookseller
Barnes & Noble, which has an e-book reader it would like to see
flourish. In response to DC's deal, Barnes & Noble removed the physical copies of the titles
from its store shelves, saying that it would not sell books it did not
also have digital rights to. Books-a-Million, another large bookseller,
took the same action for the same reason.

Barnes & Noble Inc. said that its stores will not stock
hard copies of 100 DC books that the Warner Bros.-owned unit is making
available exclusively on Amazon.com’s Kindle platform — a direct
competitor of Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-reader. Beginning with the launch of the Kindle Fire tablet Nov. 15, Amazon
will have exclusive digital distribution rights for four months to books
that include "Watchmen" and graphic novels featuring Batman and
Superman. The deal gives DC’s books, which are being made available
digitally for the first time, the advantage of being part of Amazon’s
huge marketing push for the Kindle Fire.

Comic book fans paint all the players in this tale as villains: They
accuse Amazon of turning its back on the graphic novel community, label
DC Comics as greedy, and characterize Barnes & Noble as similarly
uncaring and childish. Superman, Batman and the hot chick were unavailable for comment.

Comebacks seem to be in vogue - Devine's Law by Ian Parnham is one of my all time top ten favorite Black Horse Westerns. It was originally published in 2004 and Devine screamed for a sequel but one just didn't seem to turn up. Indeed I wondered if we'd ever see the character again in my original review of the novel HERE

Well Devine's on his way back and author, Ian Parnham has the details HERE

Why Edge of course - that no nonsense half breed who carried a series of westerns that became my all time favorite western series. You may remember I, together with the original author, made attempts to bring the Edge series back into print as eBooks and the first volume,Edge The Loner was published by Solstice Westerns. I was over the moon and am still mighty proud of my association with the Edge books. However sales weren't great and I became tied up with other projects, not to mention several months filming in Africa, the sale of the film rights for my own first novel, and a little project with that madman Vincent Stark.

Eventually it was decided to pull the plug. There was a film/TV project for the Edge character bubbling away in the background and when the gentleman responsible for the film pitch started looking at eBooks it was felt that given the low sales my Edge eBook project should be pulled to avoid stepping on the toes of any tentative multi media possibilities for the character. I still think things would have changed with several more volumes on the eMarket, but in all fairness I couldn't find the time that the project required. And so reluctantly, feeling that I was turning my back on the half breed, the Edge eSeries was pulled.

Now though thanks to western writer and friend of the Archive, Cody Wells, Edge is once again riding towards digital print...find all the exciting details HERE

Contains Spoilers
- It is difficult to think of another show in recent years which has
been so eagerly awaited. Ever since the original six episode first
season, viewers have been left eagerly waiting for t
his
full length season. The behind the scenes conflict that went on between
seasons that saw the show's guiding hand, Frank Darabont sacked from the
production didn't bode well. Would this groundbreaking series lose its
edge? Well after this first episode it is too early to tell. Though
Darabont's influence is all over this first episode - he did shoot most
of this one before he was ejected from the show over an argument over
the budget.

When
we left off last time our ragged band of survivors were back out on the
road after escaping the inferno that was the center for disease
control, and after a quick recap, we take up the story only moments
after the first season ended. The set piece is an incredibly cinematic
sequence set on a gridlocked highway. At first the place seems deserted
and the survivors stop to mend a busted radiator, but then the walkers
show up - at first one or two and then more and more and... Soon Sophia
becomes separated from her mother and runs off into the woods, two
walkers on her tail. Rik's off to save her but after managing to lead
the walkers away from the little girl he returns to find she has
vanished without a trace.

The
show may have had its budget cut but that isn't apparent here and there
are many gore filled gross out scenes in this sequence - for instance a
zombie autopsy reveals that zombies eat woodchucks.

From
there on in the story takes a relentless pace and end with another
cliffhanger in which we may, or may not have, lost another major
character or two.

An
excellent start to the new season, but let's hope the quality of
storytelling and visuals is kept up over the remaining episodes.

Saturday, 15 October 2011

In 1984 a new comic was launched by IPC home of the mega successful 2000AD. In fact Scream was modeled on 2000AD, but instead of being SF based it would concentrate on the horror genre. There were only 15 issues published before the title was canceled due to a
combination of controversy over its horror content, and production
strikes at IPC. The cancellation was at such short notice that the final
issue's strips contained previews for the next installment.

Scream! was absorbed by Eagle.

It's a pity the comic was so short lived and in memory of this great title we present a strip from the title's anthology series of stand alone stories collected together under the title, Tales from the Grave. Remember you can click on any image for a larger version and the entire 15 issue run can be read online HERE

It returns to US screens this Sunday night (UK viewers will have to
wait an whole week) and anticipation is running high for this
groundbreaking TV series, but will it continue the quality set during
the first season?
The first season proved that movie type visuals could be shown on the
small screen and the writers made good use of the extended time to tell
their story, however there has been much trouble with the production
during its time off screen. The off-season turmoil and ensuing shake-ups
meant that first the writers and then showrunner Frank Darabont
himself, were ejected from the show.

This
second season is in different creative hands, and historically when
this type of thing happens the result is a severe drop in
quality.

What’s happening with horror author, James Herbert’s long awaited new
novel, Ash? First it was listed for 2010, then 2011 and finally a
publication date of Sept 2012 was set.The novel was said to continue the story of David Ash, one of
Herbert’s best loved characters who has appeared in two previous novels,
and for some time now fans have been eagerly talking about the new
novel on Internet forums and at conventions.
However publisher, Macmillan are now listing the book as –
publication abandoned, leading to speculation on the author’s health.
Amazon are still listing the book for pre-order but the book’s cover has
been pulled.

This was the press release issued by Macmillian last year – Macmillan
is proud to announce a major publishing event. James Herbert is
Britain’s bestselling horror writer – a position he has held ever since
publication of his first novel, “The Rats”, in 1975, which now widely
accepted as a classic of popular fiction. He is one of the world’s top
two writers of horror or chiller fiction, along with Stephen King. He is
undoubtedly one of our greatest popular novelists. In March 2011, Pan
Macmillan will be publishing a new novel, entitled “Ash”, which features
one of Herbert’s best-loved characters, David Ash, the sceptical
paranormal detective, first encountered in “The Ghosts of Sleath” and
“Haunted” both Number 1 bestsellers. Ash is investigating a mysterious
and secluded stately home, deep in the countryside. There have been
reports from locals about strange goings on, they think it might be
haunted …What Ash eventually discovers is truly shocking. Prepare to be
chilled to the marrow…

The writer who still enjoys the position of the UK’s bestselling
horror author, has not released a book since 2006 which seems strange
given that he still has a large and loyal fan base. And given the on/off
status of the new novel there are many rumours spreading through the
fan base – some are saying the author has given up writing, whilst
others speculate that he may be suffering from ill health. There have
also been unconfirmed reports that Herbert has had a bust up with
Macmillan over the electronic rights to both the new book and his
backlist.

Whatever the reasons for the continued delay of the new novel it is
strange that no official announcement as been made, given that Herbert
is such a high profile name within the horror genre.

The European Commission has taken aim at the ebook industry, calling
for open standards and reduced taxes on electronic publications.

Neelie Kroes, vice-president responsible for the EU's Digital Agenda, told the Federation of European Publishers in Frankfurt that consumers
should be able to read books bought for one ebook reader on another
device if they chose.

“As the e-publishing sector develops, we may also have to consider
how to deliver interoperability,” Kroes said. “That might mean, for
example, that people can buy content for any device from any supplier,
transfer that content between their own devices, and keep possession of
it even beyond the device's lifespan.
“That could deliver openness, freedom and choice for the consumer -
with benefits too for smaller market players like independent bookshops.
Open standards already exist in this field, but take-up is still low.”

Another wider issue that's been seen as holding back the ebook market
is the price of titles, and although this depends partly on publishers
the price is elevated further by governments applying VAT on electronic
titles, while hard copies remain VAT free.

Kroes called on governments, such as the UK that imposes 20% tax on
ebooks, to change the rules to bring them into line with paperbacks,
which are exempt.

“We should ensure that public policy, for example tax treatment, does
not distort the developing market, does not 'play favourites' between
different technological solutions,” she said. “We need to work to
converge the tax treatment of digital content.

“I just cannot explain why ebooks and printed books are taxed
differently,” she said. “For the moment, in the majority of member state
responses to the Commission's Green Paper on VAT, we have detected a
really disappointing level of conservatism on this point.”

Friday, 14 October 2011

They used to be one of the UK's most powerful High Street booksellers, but the chain has fallen behind in recent years. However they have made a deal with KOBO and are hoping to take the fight directly to Amazon - WHSmith is to sell a range of eReaders as it battles to counter the shift away from real books. The chain has signed a deal to stock two eReaders made by Canadian tech firm Kobo, with a starting price of £89.

The
deal will give users access to the largest eBook catalogue in the UK,
with more than 2.2million titles and one million free books.The
growth of Kindle and iPad poses a huge threat to traditional book
sales, which at WHSmith are down by around 4 per cent on last year.

The eBook launch comes as part of a revamp at
the chain and follows a strategy of cutting out products with low margins,
such as CDs and DVDs, to focus on core areas of news, magazines, books
and stationery, a move that impacted sales but boosted profits.Kobo already has five million customers worldwide and is the biggest eBook company in both Canada and Australia.

Profits
from stores at airports and stations rose by eight per cent to a record
£57million, though like-for-like sales fell as passenger numbers were
hit by the tough economic climate.In the United States, retailers such as Barnes and Nobles already sell successful eBook readers. British book chain Waterstone's recently announced it was to launch its own eBook reader

Thursday, 13 October 2011

A promo trailer for Stephen King’s Bag of Bones TV mini-series is now available to view online Here
Several years after his wife’s death, novelist Mike Noonan (Pierce
Brosnan) still suffers writer’s block. A dream inspires him to return to
the couple’s summer retreat in western Maine, a lakeside house called
Sara Laughs. Shortly after arriving, Noonan is caught in the middle of a
custody battle involving the daughter of an attractive young widow and
the child’s enormously wealthy grandfather.
Starring Pierce Brosnan, who really was a better Bond than Daniel Craig, the production looks suitably lush and big budget.

Wednesday, 12 October 2011

Compared to last year, eBook checkouts at libraries have increased
200 percent in 2011. According to third quarter 2011 research from
digital book distributor OverDrive, eBook checkouts from libraries are
expected to be more than 16 million by the end of the year.

eBookNewser
has more: “The company has also reported that almost 2 million new
users signed up for the ability to check out books from libraries
through the OverDrive network this year, which is about double last
year. Interestingly mobile devices are accounting for 21% of all
checkouts from the network, as more readers are checking out library
books using their phones.”

In awe I watched the waxing moon ride across the zenith of the heavens like an ambered chariot towards the ebony void of infinite space wherein the tethered belts of Jupiter and Mars hung forever festooned in their orbital majesty. And as I looked at all this I thought - I must put a roof on this lavatory. Les Dawson

Would be comedy writers are being sought by the BBC, so if you think you can come up with lines like the classic above then visit the BBC's Writer's Room for submission guidelines.

I needed a password eight characters long and so I used Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Nick Helm

The famous US horror magazine Weird Tales, founded in 1923
and one of the most sought-after pulps of the Golden Age, has a new
owner. He's Marvin Kaye who has bought the title from John
Betancourt of Wildside Press.

Kaye is the author of 16 novels and six nonfiction books, in
addition to
plays and play adaptations. He has edited at least 30 anthologies,
and
won the World Fantasy Award for best anthology in 2006 for The
Fair Folk. For Wildside, he has edited the Sherlock Holmes
Mystery Magazine.

He is also an actor and in 1975 co-founded The Open Book, a reader's
theatre in New York
City, where he lives. The Open Book performed the 13th annual
production of The Last Christmas Of Ebenezer Scrooge last
December. Kaye adapted his own book for the play

SFScope (http://sfscope.com) says: "Weird Tales launched in
March 1923, and launched the careers of
writers including H.P. Lovecraft, C.M. Eddy, Jr., Clark Ashton
Smith,
and Seabury Quinn. It lasted 279 issues, ceasing publication in
September 1954. Sam Moskowitz and Leo Margulies revived the magazine
briefly in the 1970s, and then Lin Carter took the name for a series
of
paperback anthologies in the 1980s. In 1988, George H. Scithers,
John Betancourt, and Darrell Schweitzer revived the magazine with
issue
#290. Warren Lapine's DNA Publications bought the magazine in 2000,
and
then sold it to Betancourt's Wildside in 2005."

One of the authors who will be writing for Marvin Kaye's Weird
Tales is Archive friend and supporter Keith Chapman (aka Chap
O'Keefe). He tells us, "I heard back today from Mr Kaye. He writes,
'I just read Dark Art in Vyones and think it is an excellent
story. I definitely want to use it for Weird Tales, though
I'm not sure yet which issue it would appear in. Do send us new
material when possible.''

Keith is up to his eyes in preparing the next online Black Horse
Extra and waiting for details from Robert Hale Ltd of the ten Black
Horse Western ebooks they've said they'll be releasing in December.
But he has every intention of accepting Marvin Kaye's invitation.

Archive readers who have enjoyed the horror/fantasy stories from
Keith we've run in our Sunday Comics section know that more of the
like in text form has to be good news!

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

It's not been shown on British TV yet, but it was released on DVD yesterday and I, fervent Beatle fan, snapped it up on day one. Now I'm one of those people who has over the years watched all the films, read all the books, listened to all the bootlegs and it's almost impossible to find anything on the Beatles that is new to me and whilst I've seen much of the footage here on past documentaries, both official and unofficial, there was much that seemed new - Most Beatle related documentaries tend to focus on Paul or John, but because this work was centered on George, the quiet one, sometime underrated genius, I found that even the overly familiar story of his time in the Beatles had a certain freshness about it.

Director, Martin Scorsese provides an highly detailed look at the life of a true legend, and is every bit as good as No Way Home which was the director's look at that other legend, and close friend of Harrison, Bob Dylan. It's just as detailed and it presents its story warts and all - the love triangle behind Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Pattie Boyd is spoken about by both Clapton and Boyd i and I did learn something new from this section. Clapton for instance still seems uncomfortably talking about this period in his life, whilst Boyd is still overawed that she inspired the song, Layla. Drugs, excess and midnight races across London are all covered in the first part of this epic documentary.

It is the second half - the solo years - that provides the most interest and where much of the rare and new footage turns up.

The final years of George's life were the most private and it is when dealing with this period that things become utterly fascinating. And it's impossible not to be moved by the stories of Harrison's dignified death.

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GARY DOBBS/JACK MARTIN

Actor and novelist. As an actor I have appeared in Doctor Who, Torchwood, Gavin and Stacey, Moonmonkeys, Larkrise to Candleford, The Reverend, The Risen.
As a writer I write westerns for the Black Horse Western imprint using the name Jack Martin. Under my own name I am responsible for several novels including the popular Granny Smith series. And using the name Vincent Stark I have written some pretty disturbing stuff.

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There was nary a frown when Wild Bill Williams was in town. He had a way about his manner that enabled most folks to forget all their troubles and become positively festive. It was said that Bill could start off a dance at a funeral and carve a grin out of the most granite of faces.

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